When I played Red Steel 2 at iDEF last year, I wasn’t exactly filled with a sense of longing for it to be released. Sure, The 10-minute playthrough appealed to my love of all things over-the-top, and I must say that I was quietly surprised at how well Wii MotionPlus was applied to the game. However, I couldn’t help but think back to that god-awful Wii launch title, Red Steel.

With a modified engine and a new lease on life, is Red Steel 2 able to do a complete 180 on its older brother, becoming something of a Killzone 2? Or should it simply be thrown atop the ever-growing pile of failed sequels?

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Welcome once more to the Weekly Recap, where we put on our fancy hats, horrible English accents, and look at the past week in blogs, reviews, and features as if we could do any better.If that doesn’t sound like a grand old time to you, well… then you must hate fun.

And speaking of fun, don’t those upstanding young men in the header just look like they’re having a blast? I mean, who wouldn’t dictate their lives by what grown men in clown make-up rap about? And yes, I know what you’re thinking; “why bring up ICP? It’s not the 90′s anymore!” Well, because they released the most dope, life changing song ever. And it’s in the wrapup.

Think of it as your dessert after chowing down on a good, healthy serving of recap.

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There has been a lot of buzz going around about what the recently fired Infinity Ward co-founders (Jason West and Vince Zampella) are going to do now that they are sans employment. This morning the speculation has come to an end.

Today West and Zampella announced that they have formed a new studio, dubbed Respawn Entertainment, and have signed an exclusive publishing agreement with EA. Read more… »

Hello Listeners!  I just wanted to drop a quick, friendly reminder that the sexy crew of Shawn, Paul, Josh, and Chase will be recording the Limitcast live tonight, April 11th, at 7:30pm EST.  You can join the show here.

If you can’t make the show tonight – or just want to satisfy your opinionated needs – drop some comments below, and tell us what you want to hear on the show.

I love a good sandbox game. From the engrossing tales and urban mayhem of Grand Theft Auto to the wildly destructible Red Faction: Guerrilla, their ability to provide unrestricted anarchy has kept us thoroughly entertained over the past decade.

Keen to reap the success of the rising genre, the original Just Cause was an ambitious beast for its time, but its efforts backfired as it proved to be too ambitious for its own good, leading to it ultimately being forgotten over time. Four long years have now passed, so is Just Cause 2 a high-flying success or does it once again attempt to free-fall without a parachute?

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Japanese developer Cave has been making some pretty rad shooters since 1994, but sadly, most of them are exclusive to Japan. Hopefully all of that is about to change, with the US release of Espgaluda II, now available on the iTunes store for iPhones (errors are being encountered for Touch users at the moment). Due to the astronomical amount of bullets that are flying on the screen (this isn’t bullet heaven after all), thankfully there is a small section on the bottom that allows you to move your ship without covering up the battlefield with your thumbs.

Sadly, this isn’t a very good start for Cave considering the game only works on iPhones and iPads at the moment. Bummed out that it still doesn’t work for your Touch? If you are a fan of shooters, while they’re working on a fix, I strongly suggest downloading Siberian Strike Lite.

I remember talking with a friend about F.E.A.R. 2 and how scary it was. I found it pretty intense and had a few moments where I actually jumped because of it, he found it boring and never felt threatened once. Pretty sure he called me a pussy as well.

Perhaps to appease gamers like my steel-willed friend, developers Warner Bros Games of the  upcoming horror-shooter F.E.A.R. 3 have been consulting with the legendary John Carpenter on some of the scary sequences in the game. To the unenlightened, Carpenter is the man responsible for the creation of the awesomely creepy horror movie Halloween. Carpenter isn’t the only one with a horror pedigree who has a hand in the game, read on to find out who else is and see the announcement trailer.

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Gamers often make me laugh and facepalm simultaneously. When hearing that a vocal minority of gripers on a Might & Magic fansite referred to Capybara’s turn-based strategy RPG/Puzzle mash-up game as “Might and Magic: Rash of Herpes”, I couldn’t help but snicker.

However, just because something is clever doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. Clash of Heroes clocked in amongst the top 5 rated DS games for all of 2009. Sorry, haters – it sounds like the rash is spreading.

Andrew Kauz and I had the good fortune at PAX East to chat with Capy president and co-founder Nathan Vella, and get a sneak peek at the upcoming remake of the game for XBLA and PSN. Spoilers: It looks good.

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It’s PSN update time once again, and this week sees the launch of the new weekly digital magazine FirstPlay, SCEE’s answer to Qore for the modest price of £0.99 per episode or £8.99 for a 3 month subscription. Like Qore, it is set to contain video previews and reviews along with exclusive beta access and downloadable content, with the first instalment including some new content for Just Cause 2.

Elsewhere, there is a playable demo of 2010 FIFA World Cup for football fans, a new PSN game entitled Aqua Panic and a host of downloadable content for the likes of Blue Toad Murder Files, Mega Man 10 and LittleBigPlanet.

Check out a full listing of this week’s content after the break.

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Mass Effect 2 continues to see a good amount of support following its January 2010 release. Those that purchased the game new were treated to a plethora of content via the Cerberus Network. This time around, Bioware is asking for 560 MS points for the opportunity to befriend the renowned thief and hacker, Kasumi Goto.

The question on the forefront of most gamers’ minds is whether it is worth throwing down seven dollars for yet another excuse to play such a phenomenal title. And while Bioware does not have the best track record for DLC, warranting this almost 1GB download really depends on how you will play it. Read more… »

The Breath of Fire series is immensely popular among older gamers, for some reason. If you ask me, how anyone could enjoy these games is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. They are constantly marred by slow, droll combat, frequent random battles, and even more frequent fetch quests; the payoff being a set of predictable, mediocre storylines in pretty much every respect.

I think Makoto Ikehara, the mastermind behind the series, must have realized this. That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter turned out so much different from the rest of the series. Even though it may tragically go down in history as the game which ‘killed’ the Breath of Fire games, I believe that this game is perhaps the best thing that’s ever happened to the entire genre of RPGs. Read more… »

It’s really difficult for me to sit down and write this review.  After my time with Tri-Crescendo’s Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, I can honestly say that I was dumbfounded by how emotionally engaged I was by the story.  Rest assured, the experience to be had here is a memorable one, one way or the other.  And I will tell you why, in due time.

First, however, I want to cover the flaws.  There aren’t that many of them (by my reckoning, anyway), and getting them out of the way leaves me even more time to gush about this stand-out title. Read more… »